OT: Grass seed

[DawgsGoneWild]

Top of the morning fellas! I just got done building a house, and now have the fun part of making flower beds and growing grass. We live in east Texas, close to Marshall/Shreveport. Sandy soil and about 10 oak trees in the yard. I raked and planted rye grass this winter, so the wife would stop complaining about the dust, and it did great quickly. but I was thinking zoysia seed for the actual yard. I know it’s tough to get to start, but any tips, tricks, or suggestions? Yes, i covered the yard in Dales first and no mole crickets

 

[Shmuley]

Top of the morning fellas! I just got done building a house, and now have the fun part of making flower beds and growing grass. We live in east Texas, close to Marshall/Shreveport. Sandy soil and about 10 oak trees in the yard. I raked and planted rye grass this winter, so the wife would stop complaining about the dust, and it did great quickly. but I was thinking zoysia seed for the actual yard. I know it’s tough to get to start, but any tips, tricks, or suggestions? Yes, i covered the yard in Dales first and no mole crickets

"... about 10 oak trees ..."

Yeah, good luck with the grass.

 

[Dawgbite]

Grass won’t grow under oak trees. There is no telling how much money that I’ve spent on grass seed, sod, lime, fertilizer, and chemicals trying. Finally cut every tree in the area I wanted for a yard and then I have a section of trees with no grass.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Top of the morning fellas! I just got done building a house, and now have the fun part of making flower beds and growing grass. We live in east Texas, close to Marshall/Shreveport. Sandy soil and about 10 oak trees in the yard. I raked and planted rye grass this winter, so the wife would stop complaining about the dust, and it did great quickly. but I was thinking zoysia seed for the actual yard. I know it’s tough to get to start, but any tips, tricks, or suggestions? Yes, i covered the yard in Dales first and no mole crickets

With oak trees zoysia is going to be one of your better options if there’s alot of shade. They do have some new varieties of bermuda grass that are much more shade tolerant so that is an option as well.

ETA if it’s really shaded and won’t grow grass you might want to go with a ground cover for those areas.

 

[Podgy]

Tradeoff: nice trees vs nice lawn. Turf guys know more than I do but my neighbor's sodded Zoysia is thicker and seems to crowd out weeds better than my centipede and you have decent herbicides for Zoysia.

 

[40 acres and a mule]

Maybe plug or sod with Palisade Zoysia. https://thegrassstore.com/types-of-grass/zoysia-grass-types/palisades-zoysia-grass/

 

[PBRME]

Maybe plug or sod with Palisade Zoysia. https://thegrassstore.com/types-of-grass/zoysia-grass-types/palisades-zoysia-grass/

This is what I’d recommend. Zoysia seed is hard to grow.

 

[Dawgbite]

With oak trees zoysia is going to be one of your better options if there’s alot of shade. They do have some new varieties of bermuda grass that are much more shade tolerant so that is an option as well.

ETA if it’s really shaded and won’t grow grass you might want to go with a ground cover for those areas.

It's not the shade per se but the oaks suck all the moisture out of the immediate area and the tanin from the oaks really screws the soil ph.

 

[ronpolk]

I put down zoysia sod last year. I have 2 pretty big oak trees and the grass is doing really well near them. I created beds directly under the trees. If you got the budget for it, I’d definitely do sod over seed. I’d also invest in an irrigation system.

 

[T-TownDawgg]

This is what I’d recommend. Zoysia seed is hard to grow.

I can’t find it much anymore, and if I do it’s expensive.
Sod or plug zoysia.

That said, I’ve had great success with centipede seed, better looking in the long run than sod. Centipede doesn’t mind a little shade and sand.

 

[SanfordRJones]

Consider a native ground cover instead of grass. Grass lawns are ecologically useless.

 

[Turfdoc992]

Zoysia is a strong choice. The finer the blade generally the more shade tolerant. Many of the recent Zoysia cultivars were developed in Texas. Some good ones include Palisades, Zorro, Zeon, and Innovation. Diamond zoysia is a living carpet if you want to go all out and get a reel mower and maintain it at 1/4 inch your lawn will look like a golf course green. Diamond has been used as a greens grass. Any of the other cultivars listed will look really good at 1 1/4 inch to 3/4 of an inch. Zoysia has silicon in its leaves and it is hard to mow unless you have a sharp blade. If you want to keep it green in draughty periods you will need irrigation. If not it will go off color but green back up with the next rain. The new cultivars are more aggressive than Meyer which was a slow grower. There is no seed for these cultivars they need to be established via plugs or sod. Tthe seeded cultivars are not good and its hard to find seed. Do not by the homeowner products that are seed and mulch. They are grossly overpriced on a pure live seed basis. There are some new herbicide options for zoysia that will allow you to control invasive grasses like bermudagrass and torpedo grass. As time goes on the heavy shade areas may lose turf cover and can be spots for alternate ground covers.

St. Augustine grass is another option that could be plugged or sodded. It probably has more disease and insect concerns than zoyisa but is a bit more shade tolerant. Cobalt is a new cultivar.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

I had some success with the Dense Shade mix from Big Box, and my old yard was covered with oaks. But you really have to baby it......I'm talking soil samples, adding a specific amount of lime each spring and fall, reseeding every year, and fertilizer multiple times per year. And you have to aerate it more than other grasses. If you enjoy all those sorts of things, it can be done.

Other than that, I'd go St. Augustine. If you have money to throw away, Zoysia (it's probably the best, but most expensive).

 

[DawgsGoneWild]

Thanks guys. Honestly, i don’t care too much about cutting grass or having it, but it’s dusty without it and my wife is about to lower her OCD mind. Sweeping and vacuuming 4 and 5 times a day. And making sandwiches. But I’m going to take all of that and see what happens. Ph is around 6.5 without any lime or chemicals. My oaks are still young, 7-10” diameter. I don’t plan on being here when they get big. But still shade.

 

[Turfdoc992]

I've always felt that when trees and grass grow up together the grass does better. New grass put under large trees struggles.